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Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas was driving on East Lincoln Avenue shortly after 11 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 18 when he spotted contractors pouring concrete into a city sewer near the intersection of Hartley Avenue near the park.

The situation led to a heavy police and DPW presence at the scene as clean up efforts began. According to city officials, by pouring concrete down the sewer drain, it goes into the storm drain and winds up in a local creek if not handled properly.

The contractors - whose company has not been disclosed - are facing heavy fines. DPW crews have since flushed out as much of the concrete from the storm drain as possible.

Thomas noted that Mount Vernon has just one DPW inspector, which could have led to the illegal dumping.

“We only have one inspector in DPW and one (fire inspector), It took me and my truck passing by to see this going on right here,” he said in a Facebook Live video. “This is completely unacceptable to be literally dumping concrete in our sewers and I want everyone to know that this is why we need more inspectors.”